The present invention relates to air conditioning, heating and ventilation. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system for conditioning a given localized space.
Air conditioning systems maintain suitable temperature and humidity conditions in enclosed spaces. This is achieved by supplying conditioned air to these enclosed spaces. Conditioned air may include cooled air, dehumidified air or warmed air, as the case may be, and the enclosure could be a large room connected to a window air conditioner or a central air conditioner (wherein the air conditioner xe2x80x9cconditionsxe2x80x9d the entire room).
Apart from providing personal air conditioning, such systems are also used in diverse fields like commercial, research, medical and industrial applications. These air conditioning systems, by virtue of their design, cannot be used to provide only localized conditioning to specific zones of the enclosure and hence are not suitable for use in situations where only localized conditioning is required.
A common disadvantage of the existing air conditioning systems is that they involve high initial equipment cost and continuous use of large amounts of energy. (Since the systems are essentially designed to condition complete enclosures, they need to be high capacity systems, which in turn increases the equipment cost associated with these systems.) However, there exist several situations in everyday life where only specific zones of an enclosure need to be conditioned. For example, in a large dining hall, conditioning may not be required for the complete hall; in fact, it may be required only around the dining table. Nevertheless, even in these situations, current air-conditioning systems would end up conditioning the complete hall, and hence require high equipment and energy costs.
Another example is a commercial office space where it may be desirable to condition space around a copying machine (in order to prevent the sticking of papers due to high humidity). In such a situation, there is no need to condition the entire copying room. Yet another example is an industrial application where a control and switch panel has to be kept in a controlled atmosphere (and not the entire control room). In all these situations, a user can save a significant amount of resources if he provides localized conditioning only around the copying machine or the control and switch panel.
Due to the above-mentioned limitations of the existing air conditioning systems, these systems cannot address the requirements of localized conditioning. There have been attempts at designing systems that can be used to provide conditioning to a localized region.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,455 describes one such conditioning system; this makes use of the concept of spot cooling. Although such systems improve the localized conditioning effect in a specific region, they still consumes large amount of energy (than is required to condition just the localized zone). This is because such systems also end up conditioning the air that surrounds the localized zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,333 describes another system for localized conditioning. The system described in this patent describes a comforting unit. The comforting unit comprises a bladder, which consists of flexible panels coupled together to encompass an air space there between them. The air space is heated or cooled in order to provide heating or cooling comfort to the user. However, this invention does not involve direct heating or cooling. The invention provides heating or cooling comfort to the user indirectly by heating or cooling an air space that is not in direct contact with the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,285 describes another such system for providing indirect localized conditioning. The invention described in this patent comprises a temperature controlled blanket and bedding wherein a temperature controlled fluid is circulated through the blanket in order to maintain the blanket at a specific temperature. A limitation of this conditioning system is that it provides heating or cooling comfort to a user only in an indirect manner (i.e., by heating or cooling an air space, which is not in contact with the user) and does not directly condition the enclosed space in the same manner as typical air conditioning systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,678 describes a direct current mini air conditioning system that enables conditioning of small enclosed spaces (such as cabins of trucks and boats). However, the use of the mini air conditioning system described in this patent is restricted to conditioning the entire enclosed space, and it does not encompass conditioning of localized zones within the space. Further, the system described in this patent uses a direct current air conditioner, which cannot be used in normal household or commercial conditions where direct current (i.e., DC current) sources are not available.
Hence, there exists a need for a conditioning system that is relatively less expensive, that can be powered by alternating current (i.e., AC current) sources, and that can provide localized conditioning to specific zones of a confined space in an energy-efficient manner.
It is a general object of the invention to provide a system for air conditioning, heating and ventilation.
It is an object of the invention to provide a confined space conditioning system that allows for controlled airflow, temperature and humidity conditions within a zone in an enclosure.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a low energy consumption conditioning system for conditioning specific localized zones within an enclosure at a low initial cost.
In the preferred embodiment, the invention is directed to a confined space conditioning system that conditions localized zones of a given enclosure. The confined space conditioning system comprises of a conditioning unit connected to an enveloped space. The conditioning unit supplies conditioned air to the enveloped space in order to maintain controlled levels of temperature and relative humidity in the enveloped space.
The conditioned air within the enveloped space is circulated back to the conditioning unit. Due to the re-circulation of this xe2x80x9cused air,xe2x80x9d lesser amount of energy is required (as compared to energy required for conditioning the entire enclosed space). The surfaces of the enveloped space are covered by a layer or layers of thermal insulation media. This thermal insulation reduces heat losses from the exposed surface area as well as leakage of conditioned air from the enveloped space.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a system, which is designed such that only a desired enveloped space is cooled or heated to a level suitable for the individual or individuals or other entities occupying the enveloped space.
An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a conditioning system that has lower connected wattage and energy consumption as compared to the standard central, window or split air conditioners.
Another advantage of the present invention is that the enveloped space is of much smaller volume than the total enclosure, and this allows for quick conditioning of the enveloped space.
Another advantage is that the exposed external surface area of the enveloped space is much smaller than the exposed surface area of the total enclosure, and this results in reduced cross-flow of heat across the exposed surface area of the enveloped space.
Another advantage of the invention is that it provides a compact and lightweight conditioning system as compared to split or window air conditioners.
Another advantage of the invention is that it provides a conditioning system that produces lesser noise than standard window air conditioners and air coolers.
Another advantage of the invention is that it provides a conditioning system that does not require a ceiling fan to attain the comfort levels of temperature.
Yet another advantage of the invention lies in the ease of installation of the conditioning system.
Yet another advantage of the invention is that it provides a conditioning system with features of easy mobility and cartability.